The invention herein relates to a device for supporting an item and more particularly to a device for supporting a personal hand held item such as a hair dryer.
Hands free support of items such as hair dryers is desirable in that the user""s hands are then free to perform other tasks, such as styling their hair. Since most individuals cannot afford to hire someone to style their hair every day, a highly adjustable yet simple, and therefore inexpensive device is desired.
Many attempts have been made to provide a mechanical device that supports the dryer. Many of these are only slightly less complex and cumbersome than growing a third arm. The more simplistic approaches often limit the adjustability for the height of the user from children to tall adults. Others only function on specific type mountings such as on a wall. While this may work for some, many do not want a fixture mounted to their wall that is only used for 5-10 minutes each day.
Previous disclosures have been made with a dryer support that uses a receiver for the barrel of the dryer. Though usually insulated, this portion of the dryer is where the heating elements are and as a result still gets hot in many dryers. Supporting a heated device near the source of the beat is potentially dangerous regarding the risk of fire.
Handle type supports are attempted in some, but here the device usually includes a strap that wraps around the handle. This only secures the dryer when the strap is extremely tight and only if the strap has sufficient width in order to overcome the moment caused by the user in the movement of the dryer into the proper position. This movement can loosen the dryer, which will cause it to sit in an awkward position or potentially fall from the support device. In addition, in most dryers the switches that control the heat, airflow and power are positioned on the front of the handle. If the strap wraps around the handle, this would potentially obstruct these switches from the user. This would cause the user to remove the dryer from the device each time they wanted to change a setting.
Similar disadvantages occur in supporting other items. The hair dryer is one of the most commonly used on a regular basis and is therefore the basis of this disclosure. What is desired is a support that is easily and widely adjustable, simple in construction in that it is inexpensive to manufacture and includes a fastening device for rapid attachment and detachment of a wide variety of models of dryer handles.
Present Invention:
In one aspect, the invention features an accessory holder comprising with a substantially longitudinal base member. A support device is used to secure the base member to a structure. A positioning support, that has been adapted to receive the base member and that enables both linear and rotary movement is used on the base member. A substantially longitudinal secondary member, which is also received by the positioning support, enables linear movement or linear and rotary movement of the secondary member. A mounting clamp is pivotally attached to the secondary member, preferably to the distal end thereof. The mounting clamp preferably includes an open end that enables an item, such as a hair dryer, mirror, flashlight or any of a variety of hand tools, to be easily placed therein and removed when the desired task is completed. The base member can be rigidly attached to a supportive structure or releasably supported by use of a suction cup on the distal end of the base member.
The system may also include a variety of locking devices to secure the base member and the secondary member in a variety of positions by use of the positioning support. This can be done by a set of split collars with threaded locking pins or sliding sleeves with notches or locking teeth in the members and a variety of pins.
In another aspects, the invention includes a method of supporting an item including providing the structure as previously disclosed and adjusting the previously mentioned mounting clamp into a desired position by movement provided by the positioning support. This allows the positioning the item in the mounting clamp, thereby allowing support of the item.
Definition of Terms:
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same intended meaning as would be commonly understood by anyone of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs.